She’s Lost Control Again
I just watched the Ian Curtis biopic, ‘Control’. Yes, very delayed since I should have watched it when it initially came out, being that Joy Division has been one of my favorite bands for as long as I can remember. Hey, sometimes you don’t get around to things. The movie was fantastic. Shot on color film and converted to a smooth, clean black and white, the movie is a cinematic beauty. Every frame is like a perfectly composed black and white photo, and rightly it should be, given that it was directed by Anton Corbijn, the famous Dutch photographer who got his start in his early 20s photographing Joy Division. Corbijn’s photo above is the remembered photo of the band. The movie is really one of the most aesthetically pleasing films I’ve seen.
To those of you who might not know, Joy Division was a band from greater Manchester, England that existed between 1977-1980, that was one of the earliest bands on the coolest record labels of all time, Factory Records. The term ‘Joy Division’ refers to the groups of female prisoners used as prostitutes in Nazi concentration camps during WWII, mentioned in the book ‘The House of Dolls’. Ian Curtis was the band’s lead singer and sole lyricist. His short life was marked by epilepsy and severe seizures, which led to depression and marital problems and eventually his suicide on the eve of what would be the band’s first American tour. He was only 23.
In such a short time, with only two albums, Joy Division made a lasting and fierce impact on the musical world. They initially started as a punk hard rock band that eventually transitioned to a deeper, darker, melancholic sound with a moody expression to create an eerie spatiality and pioneered what would become the post-punk movement of the late 70s. They influenced most likely all bands you can think of from U2 to The Cure to The Killers. The remaining members of the band of course went onto form New Order, one of the most critically and commercially successful bands of the last century. Below I have put down a few of my favorite Joy Division songs. Would it be expected to start with ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’?
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Joy Division - She’s Lost Control
Reader Comments
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hey, thanks. appreciate it. no, i’m not on twitter as yet.
working on that. will let you know.
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Thank you
SonyaSunny
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